A Star Is Born
by silverangel83
Summary: The Fantastic Four face a challenge like never before. Can they handle it? And at what cost? Johnnycentric.
1. Chapter 1

The sun was dying.

Johnny couldn't believe it. Reed had to be joking. But a look at the other man's face confirmed his fears. Reed wasn't one to joke about things like this.

"So what does this mean for us?" Sue asked shock apparent on her face.

"Well, I'm working on a project to jump start the sun back to its full strength. The government has given me full access to everything." Reed replied. He left them all standing in the kitchen to go back to the lab.

No one moved for a whole minute. The information they had just received was too astounding.

Ben spoke first. "I'm going to Alicia's." Sue nodded. He grabbed his jacket and left.

"Well, I'm going to go watch TV." Johnny said.

"Johnny!" Sue exclaimed. "How can you watch television at a time like this?!?"

"What else am I supposed to do Sue?" Johnny replied. He walked off leaving Sue standing there with her mouth open and went into his room.

It's not that he didn't care about the situation. He did. But what was he supposed to do about it? He wasn't a scientist. Besides, TV would take his mind off of the situation.

He flipped the TV in his room on and flung himself on his bed. An old Alfred Hitchcock movie was on. _Ah, nothing better than a good old murder mystery to take your mind off of your current problems_, he thought.

It wasn't working. He just couldn't stop thinking about it. What would happen to everyone if there wasn't a sun? He knew the answer to that question. Life would cease to exist.

He flipped the TV off and got up. Opening his door he noticed no one was around. _Sue must be in the lab with Reed_, he thought. He crept out of his room and around to the corner before the hallway came into the lab. He heard Reed and Sue's voices.

"I don't think Johnny is taking this seriously, Reed." she said.

"Just give him some time," Reed said. "We all have to deal with this in our own way."

"I guess so," Sue said. "How are we going to fix this though? _Is_ there even a way to fix it?"

"Well, I have been going over some data and I think that if we could jump start the sun with an outside energy source it might solve the problem." Reed said. "The problem is finding something with that much energy."

Johnny was heartened. He knew if anyone would be able to solve this problem it would be Reed. The government didn't come to him for no reason after all.

He went back to his room and got dressed to go out. Since Reed had a plan already there was no need to stick around.

* * *

A/N: This is my first F4 fanfic. Please tell me if you think I should continue. I wouldn't call myself a writer by any means, I am more of a reader, but I came up with this idea and liked it so much I just had to write a story about it. If anyone wants to borrow the idea they are welcome to do so, just as long as they remember to tell me about it so that I can read their story. 


	2. Chapter 2

Johnny rolled over and punched the button on the alarm clock for it to go off. Didn't it understand that he was trying to sleep? He got up and made his way to the bathroom.

Suddenly, he remembered the previous day's events. He groaned inwardly feeling sick. _How could this happen,_ he thought stopping at the window and looking up at the sun. _The sun is supposed to last forever_. Funny, it didn't look any different. He sighed and continued on his way to the bathroom.

After taking his shower and changing into some new clothes, he left his room and headed for the kitchen. Pouring some cereal into a large bowl, he sat down at the kitchen table and pondered the situation while he ate. He was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice Ben come in.

"Hey, kid." Ben said, making Johnny jump.

"Ben." Johnny said.

Ben looked surprised. "What? No witty comebacks?"

Johnny opened his mouth, but before he could reply Sue came in. "Good morning everyone." she said, but without her usual cheer. She had dark circles under her eyes.

"Didn't you sleep last night Susie?" Ben asked, squeezing some orange juice into a bowl.

Sue yawned. "I was up all night researching new energy sources with Reed."

"You find anything?"

"There are a few possibilities out there, but they have to be tested." she said, putting some bread in the toaster. "I just don't know how much time we are going to have to do all of this in though."

"Reed will figure it out." Johnny said, surprising everyone. "He always does."

"I don't know. I think this may be over even Reed's head this time." Sue said looking dejected. Suddenly, she broke down crying.

Ben rushed over and put an arm around her. "Hey, there's nothing to be worried about. We can figure this out. We've saved the world before remember?"

Sue smiled a bit and hugged Ben. She let go and put the toast, jam, and two coffees on a tray. Ben poured some juice from the oranges he had squeezed into two glasses and put it on the tray also. "Thanks Ben." she said.

"You're welcome. Just make sure that you get that egghead to eat something today. He doesn't need to wear himself out to where he can't work anymore." said Ben as Sue left taking the tray and going into the lab where Reed was still working nonstop.

Johnny was unusually quiet during this whole conversation.

"Cat got your tongue?" Ben asked, sitting down at the table.

Johnny scowled and said simply, "No," not being able to come up with anything else.

Ben shrugged and left it alone, picking up one of his industrial sized forks and spearing it into his bowl of fruit.

"Ben," Johnny said, still using Ben's name instead of the nicknames he usually used - a sign of how scared he really was. "Do you think Sue is right? Is this over Reed's head?"

Ben decided to be straight with the kid and sighed, "I don't know Johnny. I really don't know."

"Oh." Johnny said seeming surprised. He thought Ben would reassure his doubts. He shook himself out of his unusual reverie.

"Well, I'm burning daylight." he said not realizing the irony of the statement. "I'm going out for awhile. See ya later Pebbles."

Ben smiled hearing the nickname. "Not if I see you first matchstick."

Johnny smirked and put on his jacket. He grabbed his keys and got in the elevator. He got in his car and drove around for awhile wondering what he should do.

Finding himself driving on a familiar road, he pulled into a parking lot and parked his car. He got out and walked for a bit before coming to a headstone.

"Hey mom," he said. "Bet you didn't expect to see me today."

He knew talking to a headstone was silly, but it made him feel better. "Did you know the sun is dying? But I know Reed can figure it out. He always does." he said with conviction in his voice that he didn't quite feel himself.

He stayed for awhile and talked. Beginning to get hungry he made his way back to his car and drove to a little café down the road.

The food was good if a little greasy. _Well, I might as well indulge myself if these are my last days_, he thought ordering dessert. He usually stayed away from having too much dessert so that he could stay in shape and fit into his suit.

Leaving the café, he got into his car and drove back to the Baxter Building. Going inside he was immediately accosted by Sue.

"Where have you been?" she exclaimed. "I've been trying to contact you for hours."

"What for?" he asked confused.

"There was a big fire and we really could have used your help. Reed had to interrupt his research to come help. If you had been here he wouldn't have lost that precious time!" she practically yelled.

"Gee Sue, I'm sorry. I didn't know my cell phone was off." he apologized feeling guilty about making Reed interrupt his work.

Sue took a deep breath and calmed down. "No, it's okay. I'm just so worried. I wish there was something we could do right now instead of just looking up research and brainstorming."

Johnny gathered her in a hug. "It's going to be okay. When has Reed ever let us down?"

Sue smiled. "Johnny, just don't run off without giving us someway to contact you. Maybe you should stay around here for awhile, just until we get some things figured out."

"Okay. I promise to always keep my cell phone on from now on." he said smiling and holding up his hand like he was swearing an oath. He didn't, however, promise to stay put. If these were his last days on earth, how could she expect him to just lounge around here? There were so many things he still wanted to do.

"How about I go start on dinner?" Sue questioned. "Would you like to help me?"

"I would, but you know how I tend to burn things," he reminded her, remembering the time he had tried to fix a turkey dinner and ended up burning even the cranberry sauce - which came out of a can!

Sue chuckled. "Fine, but that means you have to wash the dishes." she retorted smiling.

"Aw, Sue not the dishes!" he whined, but quickly conceded realizing that Ben couldn't wash dishes because he tended to break them and Reed was too busy. "Okay, okay, I'll do it."

Sue left to go start dinner. He went into the living room and sat down on the couch turning on the television in the process. He watched some news for awhile, but nothing was very interesting. Flipping through the channels he finally settled on a cartoon.

"So, where's Ben?" he yelled to Sue in the kitchen.

"He went over to Alicia's. They're coming back here for dinner." she responded.

He went back to the cartoon and let it take his mind away. He could smell some amazing aromas coming from the kitchen soon after.

A couple of hours later Ben and Alicia came in. Sue called them in for dinner and they sat down at the dining room table to eat.

"Thank you for inviting me over for dinner, Sue." Alicia said as Ben pulled out her chair and helped her sit down. "It smells wonderful."

"It's my pleasure. I think we should all spend some more time together." Sue stated, making everyone else add _while we still can_ in their head.

"Will Reed be joining us?" Ben asked sitting down next to Alicia.

"No, I couldn't convince him to stop and eat. It was hard enough to make him take a 30 minute nap this afternoon." Sue admitted bringing in some dishes and putting them on the table.

"Johnny could you help me with the rest of the dishes?" she asked.

Johnny got up from where he was sitting across from Alicia and went into the kitchen.

"Sue! How much did you cook?" he exclaimed seeing all of the dishes of food on the counter.

"Well, I wanted to make everyone's favorite." she said looking a little embarrassed. Cooking had always calmed her down.

Bringing the rest of the dishes into the dining room they sat them on the table and took their seats. Ben's eyes nearly popped out of his head at the amount of food on the table.

"Susie this is way too much for us to eat tonight! We'll be eating leftovers for a week!" he cried. "Not that I don't appreciate it though."

Sue laughed and just said, "Dig in everyone."

* * *

A/N: Wow. I didn't expect to get any reviews yet. Thanks to all of my reviewers so far – Joralie, Iaveina, and karista. Regarding this story being like that movie, I had never even heard of that movie before you called it to my attention karista. I went and looked it up and guess what? Chris Evans is in it! That is a really weird coincidence right? Maybe I have ESP. 


	3. Chapter 3

Two months later…

"Just a few more finishing touches and we should be ready to go." the Commander told the Fantastic Four over the big flat screen TV that was in Reed's lab.

Reed had come up with a plan and NASA was organizing a mission to carry out that plan. Ironically, it was all thanks to Johnny.

_Seven weeks ago…_

Johnny came into the lab where his other three teammates were. He didn't come in here much, not being that interested in science. Actually, he was kind of afraid he might break something. But getting bored of being alone he wanted to see what the others were up to. The sight he walked into almost made him walk right back out again.

The lab was a mess. Papers were scattered over every imaginable surface. Cups of coffee were sitting around leaving rings on the scattered papers. Food wrappers were overflowing from the wastebasket. A very unusual sight in the lab of the usually very fastidiously clean Reed Richards.

"Whoa, did a bomb go off in here?" Johnny asked with a smirk. He wasn't going to pass up the chance to tease Reed about the mess. Not when it was usually Reed complaining about Johnny's messes.

To Johnny's dismay, Reed didn't even notice. He was intently looking at the computer screen in front of him. Sue, however, scowled at her brother. _Whoa, I guess it's not time for jokes yet, _Johnny thought to himself.

Reed finally looked up from the computer screen. He had bags under his eyes and a week's growth of stubble. Almost a full beard. He looked ten years older.

"It's just not possible." he announced, running a hand through his hair. "There's just nothing with enough power to work. I've gone through countless simulations and they all fail. I've failed."

Sue wrapped her arms around her husband. "No honey, you didn't fail. It was an impossible mission in the first place."

Ben, quiet until now, exclaimed, "If only there was something with more power!" He flung his hand down on a metal table in anger denting it. "Sorry."

"More power, huh? Too bad Victor's not still around." Johnny quipped.

Reed straightened up and seemed to notice Johnny for the first time.

"Victor!" he yelled leaping up. "Johnny, you're a genius!"

Ben and Sue gaped, thinking Reed had gone off the deep end. No one would ever knowingly call Johnny a genius. Johnny just smirked.

"Finally, someone realizes my true potential!" he declared putting his hands on his hips.

"Reed, are you feeling alright?" Sue asked her husband, placing a hand against his forehead.

Reed shrugged her hand off and went on, "Of course, why didn't I think of it before?! We can use the shield from the storm. It's so simple!"

He practically jogged across the room and picked up the phone dialing it rapidly.

"General Baker? This is Reed Richards. I think I have it. I just need the shield door from our ship." Reed listened for awhile and hung up after saying goodbye.

"He says we can have whatever we need. He's shipping the door over tonight." Reed said sitting down at his computer and typing in data faster than the eye could follow.

"Stretch, how is the door gonna help us?" Ben questioned, recovering faster than Sue and asking the question all of them wanted answered.

"Well, if my theory is right, the shield door's molecules are similar to Victor's," Reed explained, "and since Victor could control and conduct electricity, there's a chance the shield can do the same."

_Now…_

After over a month of testing and simulations the mission was ready. Reed was looking confident and everyone was hopeful.

Johnny was unbearable. He kept saying that they owed him and if it wasn't for him they would be helpless. Ben was ready to smack him and not for lack of trying.

"Thank you Commander Jameson. We'll be in touch if you need anything else." Sue finished, shutting off the feed.

"So why do they get to go? Why not us?" Johnny whined.

"Well, let's see. Maybe because they were trained for this mission?" Ben retorted. He walked out of the lab following Sue and Reed to the living room.

"Yeah, but we've been in space too." Johnny argued following the group to the other room.

"Yeah and look how well that turned out." Ben said under his breath. He could be surprisingly quiet when he wanted to be.

"Johnny, it's their program and their money. They can choose whoever they want to." Reed said sitting down on the couch and opening up the newspaper. "Besides, why would you want to go to the sun?"

"Reed, look who you're talking to! I live for hot places!" Johnny exclaimed.

It was true. Ever since the cosmic storm Johnny had loved going to sunny places and hot springs and even volcanoes. He soaked up the warmth like a stone.

The others had their little oddities too. Sue would go to Central Park and go invisible and just watch the wildlife or sometimes people watch. Ben would go to rock quarries and mountains and just sit and think. He also would snack on a few rocks too, not that he told anyone else that little fact. And Reed would go see acrobats and contortionists. He had probably seen every show ten times. Sometimes he would even join in.

None of these things were particularly odd except for the fact they felt compelled to do them. Like it was something they had to do.

"Just accept the fact that you're not going." Sue replied turning on the television.

"Well, in that case, I'm going out." Johnny said grabbing his jacket and keys.

"Just make sure you keep you're cell phone on!" Sue called after him. "And be back by midnight!"

_Later that night…_

Johnny woke up and looked at the clock. The flashing red light read 2:30. He hadn't even been asleep for an hour. He had been an hour late coming back and after scarfing down a sandwich he had pulled off his clothes and fallen into bed. Everyone else was already asleep in their rooms.

Wondering what it was that woke him up, he pulled on his robe over his boxer shorts and opened his door a crack.

A light was on in the lab. Johnny snuck out and saw that the other members of the Fantastic Four had also been woken up. Sue and Ben were already in the lab looking at Reed who was on the telephone. Johnny hung back.

"I understand. Thank you General." Reed said hanging up the phone. He looked grim.

"Well, what did he say?" Sue asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"From the way you look it couldn't have been good news." Ben speculated.

"It's not." Reed affirmed. "The mission has failed."

* * *

A/N: Ohhh, cliff hanger! Don't you just hate me? Sorry about not writing and getting this chapter up sooner. I've been busy and in fact this whole month I will be busy. I get to go to a friend's wedding! The truth of the matter is, I really don't like to write. I do, however, _love_ to read. So don't despair if I haven't updated in awhile. Reviews will show me how much you like to read what I've written, though, and that helps me be in a better mood for writing. So thank you to all my reviewers! 


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